Why is what you call and where you store an electronic files so important?

I don’t know about you but when someone asks me for an electronic file that was created, whether it was only yesterday or some months ago, it really does reconfirm efficiency when you are able to put your hands on it quickly.

It is important to have a streamlined online filing system (and paper filing system of course) that is structured, logical and simple to use.  By organising your files, in your absence, someone else will easily be able to navigate through them too.

Here are some tips:

1. Create Folders

Be consistent:  Organise your folders by client, by business development/potential new business etc. and then structure your subfolders within each.  At the point that a ‘potential new business’ opportunity turns into a ‘client’ simply move the entire subfolder into your Client folder and rename accordingly.

Document naming standards:  Keep document names shorter, longer names are harder to scan through when searching.  Depending on your industry and the types of documents that you are preparing, spend some time creating a list of naming standards.  This is simple to do and over time these naming standards will become second nature.  Pin your final list of naming standards up where you can see them.

Here are a few examples:

A Proposal Letter – Company Name Position Date PROP
A Position Specification – Company Name Position Date PSPC
A CV from a Candidate – Last Name First Name Date CV

Reduce the number of versions:  Personally, I am not a huge fan of keeping lots of versions of the same thing but this will depend on your line of work and whether it is important to do so or not.  If so, remember to Save As version 1 by adding the number 1 to the end of the document name, then 2 and so on.

 2.       Organise Your Desktop

Shortcuts:  It is great that we can save a shortcut to a specific project file to our desktop but don’t overload it with too many icons.  Set up shortcuts to your most used folders.  A quick way to create a shortcut of any file/folder is to – right click, select create a shortcut and then drag the file/folder to another location.

Clear the clutter:  Keep your desktop clutter free by ensuring the icons don’t overlap with each other.  If they do, question whether you have too many!  Routinely reorganise and remove icons from your desktop that you don’t use anymore.

If you are tired of wasting valuable time searching for an electronic file, then I hope you have found these tips to be beneficial.  Or if you are using any methods that work for you, which I too can learn from, then please do feel to share them in the comments section below.